As the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court appealed to the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday to resist calls by African, Arab and Islamic states to defer prosecution of Sudanese leader Omar Hassan al-Bashir on charges of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, 15 human rights organizations said in a joint report released Tuesday, the Sudanese government is lying about improvements in the situation in Darfur.Human Rights Watch, Save Darfur Coalition and 13 other rights organizations said the Sudanese government continues to conduct large-scale military attacks against populated areas, harass aid workers, and allow impunity for the worst crimes committed in Darfur. Sudan wants the U.N. Security Council to suspend the International Criminal Court’s consideration of an arrest warrant against Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir.
( the U.N. Urged to Persist With Sudan Leader’s War Crimes Case)
Rights Groups: Sudan Lying About Improvements in Darfur
The prosecutor, Argentine lawyer Luis Moreno-Ocampo, told the council that Bashir continues to oversee a campaign of mass murder in Darfur, in western Sudan, forcing more than 300,000 people from their homes this year and leaving as many as 5,000 people dead each month. “Genocide continues,” Moreno-Ocampo told the 15-nation council.
A Sudanese government minister accused of war crimes in the Darfur region told a British newspaper the evidence against him was concocted
Would states violate international law if they execute an arrest warrant against President Bashir? The question is explored at Making Sense of Darfur.
In the meantime it is becoming increasingly dangerous area for aid workers. Six aid workers on the road to a volatile camp in Sudan’s war-torn Darfur region on Thursday, were beat up and abducted by masked men armed with an AK-47 and hand grenades.
Aid operations in Darfur under threat, says UN relief boss
Attacks on aid workers have reached “unprecedented levels” this year, said Holmes, saying that as of November 30, 261 vehicles had been hijacked and 172 compounds broken into.
The relief boss noted that “attacks on their convoys” had kept World Food Programme rations at only 70%.
Masked men abduct, beat Darfur aid workers
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Save Darfur board chairwoman Rev. Gloria White-Hammond was interviewed 12/5/2008 on NPR’s Tell Me More. You can listen to the segment here.
If you wish to give a gift and make a differencee to the Save Darfur Campaign you may do so by going to their site.
They send cards in your name to those you give gifts to.
An Unforgivable Hell on Earth 